Limerick tech firm has eye on your smile

The software analyses expressions to measure viewers’ responses to adverts

A Limerick-based start-up company is hoping to take the advertising world by storm with software that measures viewers’ emotional reactions to adverts.

EmotionReader, developed by Padraig O’Leary and Stephen Moore, uses artificial intelligence to capture facial information, including expressions, age and gender, and analyses the viewer’s attention span and emotional responses.

Video adverts can be shown to people across the world and their reactions determined by webcam. Advertisers can then target the audiences with the most positive responses to their products.

Mr O’Leary, the chief executive, said: “Video is becoming more important to advertisers and is projected to account for 79 per cent of all internet traffic by 2020.”

The system is designed to ensure anonymity, with the algorithms able to infer emotion, age and…

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